Springing Into Action
by SK Dark Dragon
Summary: -Completed-Mai gets a new job at the pool, and volunteers Yugi and his friends to help her! -Sequel to Dances Thieves, and Flowers.-
1. Spring is in the Air Chapter 1

Chapter One: Spring is in the Air  
  
"What did you say?" Joey Wheeler asked Mai Valentine as the two sat with Yugi Motou and the rest of his friends at a picnic table outside.  
  
"I got a job at the new pool for the spring," Mai replied with a flick of her hair. "It'll be fun."  
  
"I don't think so," Joey said. "The pool's not even filled up yet. You're going to have to do a lot of cleaning up before you can even get the job of sitting around and sliding passes."  
  
"So what?" Mai said. "It's a good job in my opinion."  
  
"Yeah," Yugi agreed. "You might have some fun with it."  
  
"Oh, I will," Mai said with a wink. "And so will you."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Duke Devlin asked scratching his head. "We've got school, we can't help you."  
  
"Well actually," Mai said slyly. "You can. The pool is short on employees and they're looking for high school students to volunteer. Of course, you'd all get excuses from school if you signed up."  
  
"Great!" Joey cried standing up. "When's the first day?!"  
"Friday," Mai replied.  
  
"Friday?" Joey said slumping down a little. "Friday's are ALWAYS off, remember? The "computer-file-problem" hasn't been fixed yet."  
  
"And we've got dance class," Tea protested.  
  
"Well, I signed you guys up and you've got to be there," Mai said. "It's at 11:15, so you can make dance class and help out too."  
  
There was a sneeze from behind them.  
  
"I hate spring," Watery-eyed Bakura muttered as he shoved some tree debris off the picnic table.  
  
"Why?" Mai asked, surprised.  
  
"Oh yeah!" Triston said. "Bakura has allergies, remember?"  
  
"Yeah, he's the reason the Pizza Parlor now asks "flowers or no flowers?" when you walk in to get a table," Yugi giggled.  
  
"Oh," Mai said thinking. "And I just thought they were trying to be funny."  
  
"Well anyway, so you signed all of us up for helping out?" Yugi repeated.  
  
"Even Serenity," Mai said with a nod.  
  
"Well then, I guess we don't have much of a choice," Joey said standing up.  
  
"I'll see you at dance class tomorrow!" he called as he hurried away to catch his ride home.  
  
"Bye!" Yugi called.  
  
"Is anyone else helping out?" Yugi asked Mai as she got up to leave.  
  
"The principal said he'd get a few other reliable students to help out, but he didn't mention who," Mai said. "But I suppose we'll find out tomorrow."  
  
That evening, when Yugi got home, he sat down at his desk to work out his math homework and Yami asked about the new plans for Friday.  
  
"So we're helping out at a pool place?" he asked.  
  
"Mm," Yugi said with a nod.   
  
"Don't forget, Yugi," Yami said looking over at the phone on his desk. "You have to call everyone again and make sure they'll be at the dance class."  
Yugi stared at the phone.  
  
"Oh no," he muttered. "I don't want to have to live through that again!"  
He backed away from the desk.  
  
"You do it, Yami," he said letting Yami out of the puzzle.  
  
"But! But..." Yami protested, but sighed.  
  
"Why does Yugi always do this to me?" he mumbled picking up the phone and dialing in one of the numbers on the sheet.  
  
"Hello? Kaiba here," Came Seto Kaiba's voice through the phone.  
  
"Kaiba, are you going to be attending Dance Class tomorrow?" Yami said very professionally.  
  
"Yes, Yugi, I am," he muttered. "Why do you always ask me?"  
  
"It's...my job," Yami said nervously.  
  
"Ok then, I'll be there," Kaiba replied. "And I'll be there next week too, so it can spare you the trouble of calling me again."  
  
"Oh, ok," Yami said.  
  
"Good bye," Kaiba said shortly and hung up the phone.  
  
"Hello?" Came a young girl's voice through the phone.  
  
"Oh no, not this again!" Yami gasped, remembering Yugi's experience with the Thursday evening telephone lines.   
  
"Good bye!" he said quickly and slammed the phone down on the hook.  
  
After carefully making his phone calls to everyone (hanging up quickly whenever he heard another voice he didn't recognize) Yami finished the list and hung up the phone from the last call.  
  
Suddenly, the phone rang.  
  
Carefully, Yami picked it up and answered, "Hello?"  
  
"Pharaoh, I will be present at the Dancing Course tomorrow," Came the misty voice Yami recognized at once as Ishizu Ishtar. (She was just about the only other person aside from Shadi who had ever addressed him as "Pharaoh.")  
  
"Thank you," Yami replied.  
  
There was a click on the other line, indicating Ishizu had hung up.  
  
"That was...odd," Yami said hanging up.  
  
"Thanks," Yugi said appearing beside him in spirit form. "You were a lot better at avoiding the calls than I was."  
  
"I don't understand what's the matter with your telephone," Yami replied. "But at least our job is done."  
  
"Yugi!" Came Grandpa's voice from the hallway. "Lights out!"  
  
"Okay!" Yugi called back as he and Yami switched places.  
  
"Good night, Yami," Yugi said as he got into bed.  
  
"Good night, Yugi," Yami replied.  
  
And Yugi drifted off to sleep, dreaming about what the next day would bring...  
  
The next morning, Yugi met up with his friends at their weekly Dance Class. So   
far, everyone had only attended one class, but they had already begun to learn some of the steps. Tea, of course, whose dream was to become a professional dancer, was almost as perfect as the teacher.  
  
The instructor divided the students up into pairs again for the practice dancing; Ishizu Ishtar, whose motives for joining the class in the first place were still unknown, was dancing with Joey.   
  
Duke was dancing with Mai, Triston, to his pleasure, was with Serenity, Yugi was dancing with the instructor, Bakura was dancing with Tea, and Kaiba was dancing with "Georgette."  
  
"Georgette" was what the dance teacher called the invisible partner the extra boy got to dance with when all the other girls were taken, as they were one girl shy. Kaiba didn't seem very thrilled with his partner at all, and was merely staring at the wall with his arms crossed.  
  
Duke was trying to enjoy dancing with Mai, while feeling envious that Triston had gotten Serenity. (It was a known fact that both boys had crushes on Joey's little sister.) Joey was trying to lighten Ishizu up, but she seemed unimpressed with his ridiculous riddles, and merely nodded her head every once in a while to acknowledge him as they danced.  
  
Bakura hated dancing with Tea almost as much as he hated dancing with the instructor. She wanted a partner who would do the moves perfectly, and Bakura was just the opposite.   
  
"Ouch! That was my ankle, Bakura!" she whispered shrilly.  
  
"Sorry!" he cried trying to get the moves correctly. "I'm just not very used to this!"  
  
Tea didn't reply. She figured she was too angry and would end up saying something she'd regret later on.  
  
After an hour of dancing, the bell rang and the weary crew was dismissed.  
  
"My feet hurt," Joey complained rubbing his shoes to emphasize.  
  
"Get used to it," Tea said stiffly with her chin in the air. "That's what the life of a dancer is like."  
  
"Then trust me," Triston muttered to Joey. "We won't become dancers."  
  
Yugi checked his watch. Kaiba checked his watch.  
  
"Well, we'd better hurry up if we want to get to the pool in time for our "jobs," Yugi said.  
  
"You..." Kaiba said suddenly, staring at Yugi. "You are volunteering at the pool?"  
  
"Mm," Yugi said with a nod. "Why?"  
  
"Well...I was asked to help out as well," Kaiba replied, stiffly as he could.  
  
"Well isn't that nice," Joey said tilting his head from side to side. "I guess we'll see you there then."  
  
"I guess you will," Kaiba snapped back in reply and the two walked off in separate directions.  
  
Kaiba taking the elevator, and Joey the stairs.  
  
"Wait up, onicha!" Serenity called, waving her hand and running after her brother.  
  
"Serenity!" Duke panted, still tired from the last dance with Georgette. (The "two" had gone into a very wacky dance in which Duke ended up five yards from where he started dancing.)  
  
He and Tristan took off after her and were soon followed by Yugi, Tea, and Bakura, and Mai who was shouting something along the lines of,   
  
"Hey! It's my car and you'd better wait for me!"  
  
****  
  
End of Chapter One. Please Review it if you have time, and thank you for reading!  
  
-Seto-Kaiba Red Archery Girl 


	2. Sunny Daze Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Sunny Daze  
  
Half an hour later, the gang and Kaiba stood outside of the pool center. The gates hadn't been unlocked yet and it was still 5 minutes still their working shifts began.  
  
"The pool looks a mess!" Joey observed, examining the chipped concrete hole in the ground that was the pool, filled with dried up leaves that had clumped together during rainstorms throughout the winter. "And it's supposed to be the best one in town."  
  
"Baka!" Mai said angrily, shaking a finger at Joey. "That's why we're here! To help clean the place up!"  
  
"This isn't going to be the neatest work," Tea said eying the leaves and mud.  
  
"Achoo! And not the most allergy friendly one either," Bakura sighed rubbing his eyes.  
  
"Mm hm," Triston said, nodding in agreement.  
  
Suddenly, the little red light on the lock to the gate turned green, and the doors swung open, admitting the group into the pool area.  
  
"Now Miss Valentine," Boomed a voice over the loudspeakers. "I want you to make sure these "children" know what they're doing. We don't have many days to get this job done, correctly."  
  
"Yes sir," Mai said with a confident nod.  
  
Then she turned to Yugi and his friends and Kaiba.  
  
"Now, I need two people to go and grab rakes out of the shed over there on the left and start raking the leaves out of the pool," she said pointing to Bakura and Kaiba. "You two."  
  
Kaiba turned on his heel and started off toward the shed, followed by a sneezing Bakura.  
  
"Now Joey," Mai said turning to him. "You can..."  
  
"Be the life guard!" he called from up in the rickety life guard chair.  
  
It teetered under his weight and the rusted nails creaked.  
  
"Joey!" Mai cried angrily as the chair swerved again.  
  
"Joey! Get down from there!" Yugi cried nervously.  
  
Suddenly, there was a sound of cracking plastic as the nails broke off on one side and the chair tipped. Joey grabbed onto a pole by the half-attached chair and pulled himself up.  
  
"Baka!!!" Mai shouted. "You can start by fixing that chair!"  
  
"Okay!" Joey said with an irritated tone in his voice as he swung down from the pole and onto the cement.  
  
While Joey ran off to find something to fix the chair, Yugi and Tea started untangling the hose while Serenity and Duke and Triston were reading up on how much chlorine should be put into how much water in a "Pools Made Easy" book.  
  
Mai was overseeing things while sweeping the pine needles off the cement (and into the pool where Kaiba and Bakura were raking).  
  
"Hold the bag steady," Kaiba snapped at Bakura whose hands were shaking slightly as he prepared for another sneeze while attempting to keep the bag open for Kaiba who was lowering a large pile of leaves into it.  
  
"ACHOO!"  
  
The pine needles and leaves (and bag for the matter) went up into the air and came back down on top of Bakura and Kaiba.  
  
"Sorry," Bakura offered meekly.  
  
"Mai," Kaiba snapped through gritted teeth. "Can someone else do Bakura's job?"  
  
Mai looked at Bakura (who looked like the last thing he should be doing was raking leaves out of a dry pool) and sighed.  
  
"Okay fine," she said waving her hands at Bakura. "Go..." she pulled a dollar bill out of her pocket. "Get me a soda at the snack machine."  
  
"Achoo! Okay," he said accepting the bill from Mai, who was trying to stay polite.  
  
Bakura walked away slowly and sluggishly, obviously as tired of his constant sneezing as everyone else was.  
  
"Really," Mai said flipping her hair back. "He ought to just go home."  
  
"Better yet, visit the doctor about an allergy prescription," Tea said shaking her head. "Poor him."  
  
"Anyway, Yugi, you take over his job," Mai said pointing to Kaiba who was trying to pick up the mess Bakura had made of their first ten minutes of work."  
Joey came running back with duck tape a second later.  
  
"Think this will work?" he asked feeling the roll for the beginning of the tape line. "It was the only adhesive I could find."  
  
Mai resisted the urge to smack Joey and Kaiba was too angry at Bakura's allergies to come up with a fast retort.  
  
"I think we'll do something else," Tea said taking the tape away from him. "Just go help Mai sweep or something."  
  
"Oh, okay," Joey said shrugging walking toward Mai.  
  
Yugi made things go a lot faster in terms of cleaning out the pool of leaves, but barely a quarter of the pool was clean when the hour-marking-bell rang for their break.  
  
Everyone, sweaty, hot and tired, walked over to a picnic table covered by a pretty yellow umbrella and grabbed a drink that was sitting in a cooler on the table. (Tea and Serenity had thought ahead of time about drinks)  
  
As they sat, sipping their sodas peacefully, Yugi stared out at the mess of a pool that still lay before them, waiting to be cleaned.  
  
"We've hardly made any improvement," he sighed turning to the others.  
  
"We'd make a bit more improvement if we'd have more people working on the pool itself and not on more insignificant things like the chairs and the pavement,"   
Kaiba said dryly.  
  
"Okay," Mai said wiping her forehead. "We'll have Joey, Triston and Duke help out with the sweeping and raking too, and just the girls can worry about the sweeping.  
  
"What about me?" Bakura asked looking up at them with his large brown eyes.  
  
"You..." Mai started, trying to break the news to him in a kind way. "...We really don't need you around. We've got plenty of workers and you've helped enough. Why don't you go home?"  
  
"Or to a doctor," Joey added.  
  
"Oh," Bakura said sort of sadly getting up. "I guess I'll see you all next week."  
  
"Bye!" Yugi called after him.  
  
"Well, back to work then?" Mai said standing up and clapping her hands together.  
  
Everyone groaned as they stood back up and prepared to get back to work.  
At the end of the 3rd hour of working, the gang was exhausted.  
  
"Well, we're finished," Mai panted collapsing on a bench outside the pool grounds.  
  
"Thank goodness," Yugi agreed, joining her on the bench. "I don't think I could do anything else."  
  
Kaiba walked down the path and away from everyone else. He didn't look as though he had enjoyed the hours of work either.  
  
"Don't forget!" Mai called, using her remaining strength to yell as loud as she   
could. "Next Friday at 11:00!"  
  
"I know," Was Kaiba's reply.  
  
"Well," Yugi sighed. "At least we don't have to do this again for a whole week."  
  
"Yeah, a whole week," Joey said dreamily.  
***  
  
End of Chapter 2. Thanks for reading! 


	3. Splashing into Season Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Splashing Into Season  
  
However, the "whole week" went by much faster than anyone could have imagined, unfortunately for Yugi and the others.  
  
The following Friday, the group met up once again at the pool for their weekly jobs after Dance Class. (Tea had finally impressed the teacher so much, she had asked her to perform the entire routine in front of the class with the best boy   
dancer (Kaiba).)  
  
The leaves had been cleared out of the pool, the pavement swept, and the life guard post had been taken down because no one could figure out a better way than   
Duck Tape to fix the broken chair. A small, red, fold-out chair had replaced it and was sitting on the pavement near the edge of the pool.  
  
Now, the task that was left was filling the pool.  
  
"Bring the hose this way!" Mai called, waving her arms like a conductor guiding an airplane as Joey and Duke lifted the heavy hose and dragged it across the cement to the pool.  
  
"Now drop it in," Mai said slowly.  
  
Joey tossed the hose into the empty pool, where the metal tip clinked against the white cement.  
  
"I meant a little less, carelessly," Mai muttered checking to see if the hose had cracked the pool, but it hadn't.  
  
"Now Yugi!" she called over to Yugi, who was standing near the shed next to the faucet. "Turn on the water!"  
  
Yugi nodded and bent down to turn the nozzle. He tried several times, but it wouldn't move. Finally, when he began kicking the tap, Kaiba went over to see   
what was taking so long.  
  
"Allow me," he said shortly, gently pushing Yugi out of the way.  
  
He grasped the handle firmly and with one twist, the water turned on.  
  
"Gee, now I feel really weak," Yugi thought miserably.  
  
Kaiba brushed off his hands and went back to fixing the vending machine, which had eaten Tristan's money without giving him something to eat in return.  
  
The water sprayed out of the hose fast and forcefully and the hose wriggled around in the large pool as the water began to fill.  
  
"Well, now while that's filling, can we go home?" Joey asked Mai, slumping down slightly to emphasize his exhaustion, even though they'd only been there ten minutes.  
  
"No, we've got other things to do," Mai snapped walking briskly by him and Serenity who was putting on purple sun-block.  
  
"I don't think this is working right?" Purple-skinned Serenity said standing up and looking at her arms. "It said when you rubbed it in it wouldn't be colored anymore, but the more I rub, the more purple my skin is."  
  
Tea stifled a giggle and walked over to Serenity.   
  
"Maybe you ought to just go rinse it off," she said pointing to the bathrooms across the pool-grounds. "What brand did you buy?"  
  
"Super-Color Sun-Block," Duke read off the label on the bottle she'd been using.   
  
"Hmm, that doesn't sound like a very reassuring title."  
  
Serenity sighed and she and Tea walked away to the rest-rooms to de-color Serenity while Triston waiting by the vending machine for his money back.  
  
"Haven't you fixed it yet?" Triston asked as Kaiba stuck a screwdriver into the money slot.  
  
"Almost," he muttered pulling something out of the slot. "What's this?"  
He looked at the quarter, but it looked odd, and felt plastic.  
  
"This is a very fat and fake quarter," Kaiba said crisply, tossing it back to Triston. "It would never fit down the slot. Next time don't pay for things with money that isn't real."  
  
"Oh, I thought all the fake money was in the jar on my dresser," Triston said pocketing it. "Oh well." he shrugged.  
  
"Who keeps fake money in the first place?" Kaiba thought as he walked away.  
  
The hose flipped around again in the pool, the nozzle clinking again on the cement. Then, without warning, the hose flipped up into the air and out of the pool, spraying Mai, Joey, and Triston.  
  
"Help!" Triston cried as the water sprayed his clothes.  
  
"Turn it off!" Joey yelled shielding his face from the forceful blast with his   
hands.  
  
"Put it back in the pool!" Mai screamed running over to the hose.  
  
She and Triston wrestled the hose back into the pool and threw it to the ground.  
  
Yugi had been running back and forth between the tap and the pool, not knowing whether he ought to follow Joey's advice and turn it off, or help them put it back. He leaned over and panted.  
  
"We've got to do something to fix that," he gasped.  
  
"Unless you never want the pool filled," Kaiba added coldly.  
  
"Let's use this!" Joey said holding up the duck tape. "We'll tape it to the ground so it won't do that again.  
  
Mai brushed her soaking hair out of her face.   
  
"If it'll work, you can do it, Joey," she said shortly. "I'll be in the office doing paperwork."  
  
"Fine, fine," Joey said squeezing out his shirt and pulling off a piece of tape.  
  
After several attempts at "nailing" the hose down, he finally gave up and turned the water down a notch so it wouldn't fly out again. Yugi and Bakura were helping Mai with the paperwork while Tea, Joey, and Serenity (who was only lavender now since her shower) were hanging up "Grand Opening, This Saturday!" signs all over the gates.  
  
Kaiba, Triston, and Duke had gotten stuck with the wonderful task of measuring the chlorine and putting it into the pool.  
  
"Don't!" Kaiba shouted at Triston, but Triston poured a large bag of chlorine powder very quickly, causing a large puff of white smoke to rise up around them.   
  
"I...*cough*...told you not to," Kaiba choked as the three backed away from the cloud.  
  
"It'll die down," Duke said, fanning the cloud away with his hand. "Eventually."  
  
"Who wants to go get the bag and measuring cup?" Triston asked staring at the white mist.  
  
Kaiba folded his arms angrily.  
  
"What a pleasant way to spend my Fridays," he muttered to himself, thinking longingly of his air-conditioned, sterile office back at Kaibacorp.  
  
Bakura and Yugi were having fun sorting through the records of past visitors in the cool office with Mai. All too soon, however, Mai suggested that they give someone else a chance at sorting and they go help mix the chemicals.  
  
"Awww," Yugi whined, but changed his whine into a cheery, "Okay!" quickly.  
  
"All right," Bakura said sadly following Yugi outside into the heat wave of an afternoon.  
  
"Hey guys! Guys!" Yugi called over to Duke and Triston. (Kaiba wasn't anywhere to be seen) "We're changing shifts! You guys want to do paperwork?"  
  
"Oh yeah!" Duke said jumping up from the life guard chair, where he had been baking while watching the pool fill up.  
  
"Oh boy!" Triston agreed, acting as though paperwork was the best treat ever.   
  
"Let's go!"  
  
"I guess they were really board to want to do paperwork," Bakura giggled.  
  
"Yeah," Yugi said looking at the pool.   
  
It had been hours, but hardly a foot had even filled up.  
  
Yugi sighed.   
  
"Where did the other two go?"  
  
Bakura and Yugi turned around to see Kaiba, holding a new bag of chlorine powder.  
  
"They went to go do...paperwork," Yugi said looking at the bag.  
  
"Oh," Kaiba said setting the bag down.  
  
"Well, I think I'm going to go home," Kaiba said turning around. "I think I've had all the chlorine my eyes can take."  
  
"Yeah," Yugi said. "Bye!"  
  
As he waved, the chain on his Millennium Puzzle broke, and the Millennium Puzzle fell down into the half filled pool. Unseen, a small piece near the front of the puzzle fell out and fell into the filter at the floor of the pool a few feet from where the puzzle itself landed.  
  
"Oh no!" Yugi cried. grabbing the puzzle and pulling it out of the pool.   
  
"At least it's okay," Bakura observed.   
  
"I'm going to put it in my bag," Yugi said, sticking the, unknown to him, not complete puzzle into his bag.  
  
As everyone left that evening, no one noticed the one piece of the puzzle stuck in the filter. What would become of the puzzle if Yugi couldn't find the piece?  
  
That evening, Yugi fixed his chain and looked at the puzzle.  
  
"Oh my gosh!" Yugi cried, noticing for the first time the little piece missing from the puzzle. "A piece is gone! Yami!" he cried.  
***  
  
End of Chapter 3. Thanks for reading!  
  
-Seto-Kaiba Red Archery Girl 


	4. Chapter 4 Tracking down the piece

Chapter 4. Tracking down the piece  
  
The next morning, Yugi was a wreck. He'd barely slept a wink that night, worrying about what could be happening to the piece of the puzzle at the pool.  
  
"I'm sure that's what happened," he thought to himself as he hurried through a bowl of cereal at the breakfast table. "I'm glad we have to be there today anyway, because of the Grand Opening. I've just got to find it! Otherwise, I'll never be able to..."  
  
"No! Don't think that way," he said, trying to calm himself down. "I'm going to find it. Everyone will help me, they said so last night when I called them."  
  
Yugi rushed out the door without even saying Good Morning to his mom and Grandpa and hurried down the street to the pool. A large crowd of children and their parents were waiting outside in a line, watching the clock anxiously as it counted down to 12:00, the opening hour.  
  
Yugi slipped in the back gate marked "Employees" and found the rest of his friends and Kaiba waiting for him.  
  
"Have you found the puzzle piece yet?" Yugi asked desperately.  
  
"It wasn't in the pool from what we could see, but the manager won't allow us to go looking in the pool until after it opens," Mai explained. "He doesn't want to cause alarm on the first day, so only on your breaks can you look around."  
  
"We're only volunteers, Mai," Joey yawned. "You've got two other life guards to help with the jobs."  
  
"You've got to help today and then you're off the hook," Mai said pulling out a list of employees. "We just hired some college kids to help out during the week, so please just be good today."  
  
"Fine," Duke said looking at the crowd gathering outside.  
  
Yugi started to sweat and was too busy feeling sorry for Yami that he didn't notice the glint of gold come from the other end of the table.  
  
"Yugi has lost a piece of the puzzle?" A mysterious voice in Bakura's body thought to itself.  
  
The Millennium Ring had activated, leaving Bakura helpless against the evil force of the spirit of the Millennium Ring.  
Yami Bakura stared at the puzzle and his eyebrows rose in astonishment.  
  
"Of all the pieces," he muttered studying the puzzle that was in Yugi's hands. "The missing piece is the very piece I put my soul into! I must find that piece!"  
  
"Um...Yugi?" Bakura asked sweetly. "I can help look for it first."  
  
"Thanks, Bakura," Yugi said with a sigh.  
  
"I sure will help," Yami Bakura thought evily to himself. "And with the power of the Millennium Ring, I'll be sure to find it long before you and your silly friends will."  
  
"It's 12:00!" Mai cried looking down at her water-resistant watch.   
  
"I've got to open the gates! Tea, Serenity, you two go and sit at the   
desk to log people in, and Joey....you go sit in the life guard chair   
for a second!"  
  
"Wow!" Joey cried running over to the little chair.  
  
A whistle blew behind him.  
  
"No running!" Mai cried after him.  
  
"All right..." Joey grumbled as he slowed to a brisk walk as he continued.  
  
"Welcome, to the MTN Pool!" Mai said cheerfully to the anxious crowd.   
  
"Come on in! Slowly now, ouch!"  
  
A little boy had stomped on her bare feet.  
  
"Out of the way!" Anther girl cried.  
  
"No...problem," Mai said through gritted teeth, trying to stay friendly   
as she rubbed her soar foot.  
  
"Want to go look for the piece in the pool with us, Kaiba?" Yugi asked.  
  
Kaiba shook his head.  
  
"I really don't want to get wet right now, thanks," he replied icily.  
  
"Okay then," Yugi said turning to Bakura.  
  
Tea and Serenity began logging people in as Yugi and Bakura changed into their bathing suits.   
  
"I guess we'll just act like we're swimming like everyone else," Yugi said.   
  
"Yeah, sure," Bakura said vaguely, looking down at the Millennium Ring poking out of his backpack.  
  
"Um...you go ahead, Yugi," he said with an embarrassed grin.  
  
"Why?" Yugi asked, cocking his head.  
  
"Um...I think I'm going to try some of Serenity's sun block," he lied   
  
quickly. "It might take me a few minutes.  
  
"See you out there then!" Yugi called as he hurried out of the locker   
rooms.  
  
Bakura could here a whistle blow outside.  
  
"Hey, shrimp! No running!"  
  
"Joey! It's me!"   
  
"Oh! Sorry Yugi! Whoa!"  
  
There was a loud splash.  
  
"Are you okay, Joey?"  
  
"I'm taking over as life guard!" Mai's voice shrieked. "You don't even have the permission to be one anyway!"  
  
Yami Bakura ignored the chaos outside and instead focused his attention to the Millennium Ring in his hands.  
  
"Hmmm, now, I only need to get out there undetected and I can find my way to the puzzle piece," Yami Bakura muttered.  
  
He peered around the corner and saw crowds of children all over the place.  
  
"Hmm, that won't be too difficult," he smiled.  
He walked out of the restrooms and put on a cute, Bakura face. Walking   
behind as many people as possible, he tried to hide the fact he was following the five glowing pointers on the Millennium Ring.  
  
As soon as he got the an edge of the pool, the Millennium Ring pointed down, into the water.  
  
"Drat," he muttered and quickly jumped into the pool.  
  
He swam down to the bottom and noticed a filter with something gold stuck in it. He reached down into it and pulled out the piece! The piece of the Millennium Puzzle.  
  
He swam back to the surface and pulled off the Millennium Ring. He looked around to see if someone had noticed him. Mai was yelling at two teenagers who had been running and Yugi was looking under the slide.   
  
Only Kaiba was looking his way.  
  
"He doesn't even know what a Millennium Item is," he thought and took   
off back to the locker rooms.  
  
"Now, I have a bargaining token," Yami Bakura thought gleefully, grasping the wet puzzle piece in his hand. "Without all the pieces, the puzzle won't do anything, and I have a way to get the whole puzzle from him..."  
  
"What're you doing?" Came a cold voice behind him.  
  
Yami Bakura spun around.  
  
"Oh," he cried, noticing who it was. "Hi, Kaiba."  
  
"I thought you were going to help Yugi find the Millennium Puzzle piece," Kaiba said studying Bakura.  
  
"I was," Bakura said. "I just got too cold in the water."  
  
"What's that you're holding?" Kaiba asked, as Bakura was holding the Millennium Ring and puzzle piece behind his back.  
  
"Uh...nothing," he lied quickly turning around. "I'll be right back!"  
He quickly walked away, leaving Kaiba staring after him.  
  
"Hmmm," Kaiba thought.  
  
He walked out of the locker rooms and over to where Yugi was looking by the 'kiddie' slide.  
  
"Yugi, I think there's something I should tell you," Kaiba said to   
Yugi, leaning over to get a better view of Yugi.  
  
"What?" Yugi asked coming back up to the surface.  
  
"Look out!" A voice from behind Kaiba cried.  
  
Just as suddenly as the voice was heard, a boy who had been running across a patch of water started to skid, and slammed right into Kaiba, knocking them both into the water.  
  
End of Chapter 4. 


	5. Chapter 5 Soul Duel

Chapter Five: Soul Duel  
  
Mai blew her whistle loudly as Yugi tried to find the two of them.  
Choking, Kaiba and the boy surfaced.  
  
"Watch where you're going," he coughed.  
  
"Are you okay?" Mai said walking over to them as they climbed out of the water.  
  
"I think so," Kaiba muttered rubbing his head.  
  
Mai held up three fingers.  
  
"Okay, how many fingers do you see?" she asked.  
  
Kaiba narrowed her eyes at her.  
  
"Five," he replied.  
  
"Five?" Mai asked, looking worried. "I think you should..."  
  
"However, only three are sticking up," he finished. "I'm fine!" he added, brushing by her and walking back toward the lockers.  
  
Mai sighed, then called angrily after him, "I'm just trying to do my job!"  
  
"Baka," she muttered turning back to Yugi and the boy, who had climbed out of the pool. "And you! No running! No sliding! This is dangerous! Do you want to hurt someone?"  
  
"No," he replied, his voice shaking slightly.  
  
"Then follow the rules!"  
  
Yugi edged away from Mai and hurried after Kaiba. A whistle blew behind him, but he ignored it, even though he was breaking the rules.  
  
"Kaiba said he had something to tell me," Yugi thought searching desperately for him. "What was it? It could have had something to do with the puzzle piece!"  
  
Turning a corner, he saw Kaiba trying to dry off.   
  
"Hey Kaiba, sorry about you getting wet, but what did you have to tell me?" Yugi   
asked quickly.  
  
"I think that white-haired kid is up to something," Kaiba muttered looking toward the lockers. "But I couldn't talk to him, he ran off."  
  
"Why do you think he's up to something?"  
  
"He looked like he was wearing one of those Millennium Items," Kaiba replied.  
  
"The Millennium Ring!" Yugi gasped. "Oh no! The evil spirit is back!"  
  
"Evil spirit?" Kaiba asked thinking. "Oh, like when you dueled on the Battle Ship. That Bakura?"  
  
"Yes," Yugi said in a rush. "We have to find him! All of us! The evil Bakura is tricky. He's an ancient spirit with really weird powers."  
  
"All right," Kaiba grumbled giving up on trying to get dry.  
  
At that moment, Mai blew the whistle for break and she and the others walked over to Yugi and Kaiba.  
  
"Hey guys, what's up?" Mai asked.  
  
"I'm sick of membership cards," Tea said glumly. "I've entered about 300 people today!"  
  
"Wow!" Joey said. "That's business for you."  
  
"Anyway guys," Yugi said, changing topics. "We need to find Bakura. His evil spirit is back and we need to stop him before he does something horrible!"  
  
Duke nodded.  
  
"Okay!"  
  
The crew set off the find Bakura. A few minutes later, they came upon the boy's locker rooms.  
  
"This is where I last saw him," Kaiba said. "Let's go."  
  
"Baka!"  
  
Joey, Yugi, Duke, Triston, and Kaiba turned around.  
  
Tea, Serenity, and Mai all had frowns on their faces.  
  
"What?" Joey asked.  
  
"Stupid! This is the boy's locker rooms!" Tea snapped. "We can't go in!"  
  
"We'll wait outside, ok, onicha?" Serenity said sweetly, still looking slightly embarrassed.  
  
Kaiba shrugged and the five boys walked in.  
  
"Bakura?" Yugi called out, holding his semi-completed puzzle. "We know you're in here."  
  
"Do you?" Bakura said walking out from behind a locker.  
  
It was Bakura, only he looked evil. His hair stuck up oddly and his eyes were narrow and full of hate.  
  
"I want my piece of the puzzle!" Yugi cried, seeing it in his hands.  
  
"You'll have to duel my way for it," Yami Bakura snapped.  
  
"Fine!" Yugi cried. "Yami means more to me than anything! I'll risk anything to get him back!"  
  
"All right," Yami Bakura said, taking the puzzle from Yugi and snapping in the last piece. "The winner gets to keep the whole thing."  
  
"Fine!"  
  
"Okay then," Yami Bakura said, a terrible glow emitting from his Millennium Ring.   
  
Suddenly, all of the gang, (even the girls outside) froze, and turned an odd blue color as the surrounding area became that of the Shadow Games.  
  
Everyone fell to the floor and strange sparks emitted from Yugi's deck.  
  
"No," Yugi cried in disbelief. "Not this. Not a soul game!"  
  
"Yes," Yami Bakura snapped, a large playing field appearing in front of them.   
  
"So you'd better be careful you to play and who not to play. Like perhaps,   
yourself!"  
  
"Oh no!" Yugi thought as he drew an opening hand. "Without Yami, I can't play my soul, the Dark Magician!"  
  
"Yugi," Came a familiar voice beside him.  
  
Yugi turned to see the spirit form of Yami.  
  
"Yami?" Yugi asked turning to him.  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"I'm still here with you," he explained. "I'll possess the Dark Magician card instead of you. Just play your cards well and win me back..."  
  
Yami disappeared, into the deck.  
  
"I'll go first!" Yugi said picking his hand.  
He examined his cards.  
  
"The only monsters I can play are The Magician of Faith and Harpie Lady," he thought. "Magician of Faith is Tea's soul, and I'm sure Harpie Lady is Mai's. Both are my friends, but I have to play one of them, or else my life points will be vulnerable to an attack!"  
  
"Harpie Lady!" he cried. "Attack mode!"  
  
A smaller than usual Mai appeared, dressed in Harpie's clothes with wings and claws.  
  
"What the..." she muttered looking around. "Yugi!"  
  
"Listen Mai," Yugi said quickly. "Please! We're playing a Shadow Duel, and you're in it! You are the Harpie Lady!"  
  
"Really?" Mai asked examining her wings. "And here I just thought I'd flipped my lid."  
  
"No, now just follow my instructions and I'll try not to send you to the graveyard," Yugi said.  
  
"Thanks for the reassurance, hun," Mai muttered crossing her arms.  
  
"Your turn!" Yugi announced.  
  
"Good," Yami Bakura snapped drawing a card. "Headless Knight! Destroy the   
Harpie!"  
  
"No!" Yugi cried as the knight rushed forward and sliced through Mai.  
  
Mai screamed and then disappeared. Yugi sadly put her card in the graveyard.   
  
"I'll get you back...somehow," Yugi thought as he picked his card.  
  
"Let's see, Gazell?" he thought. "His attack power is higher than that of   
Headless Knight's. I'll use him!"  
  
"Gazell, attack!" Yugi cried as his beast appeared and destroyed the knight.  
  
Yami Bakura's life points dropped 50 to 3950.  
  
"Err," he growled as Yugi declared the end of his turn.  
  
"Go!" he cried, summoning a monster. "Defense mode!"  
  
"My turn!" Yugi cried, picking a card. "I'd better play Tea in defense mode, just for safety," he thought.  
  
"Stay under the card, Tea," Yugi thought.  
  
Luckily, Tea didn't appear.  
  
"Whew," Yugi sighed. "Gazell! Attack!"  
  
Gazell leapt forward and hit the defense card. The card flipped, revealing the Man-Eater Bug.  
  
"Be destroyed, Gazell!" Yami Bakura declared and Gazell disappeared, due to the Bug's special ability.  
  
"At least it wasn't Tea," Yugi sighed as he ended his turn.  
  
"Another monster, in defense mode," Yami Bakura announced.  
  
"Again?" Yugi thought. "It's probably another trap. Like the Morphing Jar."  
  
Yugi shuddered at the thought. The Morphing Jar made both players discard their entire hands and pick new cards. If Yugi had a soul card in his hand, it would be destroyed!  
  
"My turn," Yugi said, picking a new card. "Oh no!" he cried, looking at it. "The Dark Magician! Yami's soul!"  
  
Yugi stuck it in his hand and started to sweat.  
  
"I CAN'T play Yami's soul because I don't have enough monsters on the field to sacrifice!" he thought miserably. "I won't attack this turn, because Magician of Faith is too weak anyway, and it might be a trap."  
  
"My go?" Yami Bakura asked eagerly.  
  
"Um,"  
  
"Good," he snapped, picking another card. "Card destruction!"  
  
"No!" Yugi cried staring at the Dark Magician. "Yami!"  
  
"Discard all your cards, Yugi," Yami Bakura snapped, abandoning his own and drawing more.  
  
"Yami," Yugi whispered as he discarded the Dark Magician along with De-Fusion, Polymerazation and Soul Release.  
  
Yugi drew 5 new cards, among which were both the "Armed Ninja" and the "Lord of Dragons", both of whom were not usually in Yugi's deck.  
  
"Armed Ninja, that must be Duke's soul card," Yugi thought to himself. "And Lord of Dragons MUST be Kaiba."  
  
"Come now," Yami Bakura said evilly. "Play your monster now!"  
  
"I..." Yugi stammered. "Summon The Rock Spirit, by removing Beta from the   
Graveyard. Then, I set this in defense mode."  
  
He set Lord of Dragons face down in defense.  
  
"I hope Kaiba and Tea will be all right," Yugi thought as he ordered The Rock Spirit to attack the defense card of Bakura's.  
  
The Rock Spirit easily destroyed the Possessed Portrait, Bakura's defense card.  
  
"I end my turn!" Yugi cried.  
  
"My turn," Yami Bakura snapped, drawing a card.   
  
He grinned.   
  
"This card..." he said looking at it happily. "This is one of the best cards."  
He played it in defense mode.  
  
"Watch out, Yugi," he sneered. "I told you, everyone's soul is in this battle.   
Everyone but you and I. Everyone."  
  
"No!" Yugi cried looking at the defense. "It can't be...Bakura!"  
  
"Your move," Yami Bakura said, not bothering to hide the happiness in his voice.  
  
"If that is Bakura," Yugi thought. "I...I can't destroy him."  
  
As if he could hear Yugi's thoughts, the face-down card flipped up.  
  
"The Invader of the Throne?" Yugi asked as Bakura appeared as the Invader.   
  
He was on a chair wearing a very long red robe. For being a card in the control of an evil master, he actually looked happy.  
  
"Invader of the throne's flip effect will activate!" Bakura said and he and The Rock Spirit switched positions.  
  
Bakura was now on Yugi's side of the field, and The Rock Spirit, Yami Bakura's!  
  
"What?!" Yami Bakura cried.  
  
"Invader of the Throne may switch sides with one opposing monster when flipped," Bakura said bravely. "So I'm at Yugi's disposal now, not yours!"  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi said happily.  
  
"But there's still a problem, Yugi," he admitted. "I had to switch with a monster that didn't have a soul, so I gave him the more powerful one."  
  
"That's okay," Yugi said, flipping Lord of Dragons into attack mode and setting   
  
Duke's soul, Armed Ninja, in defense mode.  
  
"What the..." Kaiba, dressed as the Lord of D., trailed off looking around.  
  
"Listen, Kaiba," Yugi said quickly. "You're part of this duel. You're the Lord of Dragon, okay?"  
  
Kaiba blinked.   
  
"Okay?! What am I supposed to do?" he asked.  
  
"Just give me a minute to think," Yugi said, staring at his hand. "I think I can find a way to defeat The Rock spirit, and save everyone's soul!"  
  
***  
End of Chapter 5 


	6. Chapter 6 Losing Souls

Chapter 6 - Losing Souls  
  
Kaiba nervously looked around at the field, from Yami Bakura, to the Rock Spirit, to Bakura as the Invader of the Throne.  
  
"This is starting to get creepy," he told Yugi. "How and why are we here?"  
  
"The Millennium Puzzle," Yugi sighed, pulling two cards out of his hand and putting them on the field. "I put the Sword of the Deep Seated and the Malevolent Nuzzler on the Lord of Dragons, raising his attack power to 2400!"  
  
A sword appeared beside Kaiba-Lord-Of-Dragons, and then a strange green glow emitted from it.  
  
"Now you're powerful enough to defeat the Rock Spirit," Yugi said to Kaiba, who picked up the green sword. "I switch Invader of the Throne into attack mode and have the Lord of Dragons attack Rock Spirit, and the Invader...your life points!"  
  
"Here goes nothing," Kaiba thought to himself as he lunged forward and used the new sword to slash through the Rock Spirit. Yami Bakura's life points were down 400 more, to 3550.  
  
Then Bakura, tripping once over the long tail of the robe, attacked the life points directly reducing the LP to a further 2200.  
  
"Yes!" Bakura cried happily, reaching out to slap Kaiba high five.  
  
Either Kaiba ignored him, didn't see him, or was too busy looking at Yami Bakura's reaction to all this: He laughed.  
  
Maniacally laughing.  
  
"What's so funny!?" Bakura demanded to know.  
  
"You all think that one attack will bring me down?" Yami Bakura snapped, drawing his card. "Well watch this!"  
  
"I play snatch steal!" he cried, slapping down the card on the table.  
  
"Oh no! That's like a permanent Change of Heart!" Yugi cried, leaning forward.  
  
"Yes, and I choose to take...YOU hikari!" Yami bakura cried, pointing at Bakura-Invader-of-the-Throne.  
  
"No!" Bakura cried, but it was no use.  
  
He disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the field, his eyes red and glowing. Bakura was no longer there; his spirit was manipulated as it so often was.  
  
"Now, attack the defense card on the left!" Yami Bakura cried, and Bakura blindly attacked Duke's soul card.  
  
"No! Duke!" Yugi cried.  
  
Duke appeared for a second before disappearing; gone to the graveyard like Yami and Mai.  
  
"No," Yugi cried, punching his fist down on the table angrily. "That's three gone and one possessed!"  
  
But something strange happened. The magic card "Snatch Steal" began to glow, and then it disappeared from the table. Bakura came back to Yugi's side of the field, and his eyes turned their regular color again.  
  
"What...happened?" he asked Kaiba, looking around. "Where did the other soul go?"  
  
"He's gone..." Yugi said sadly. "But not without helping us out. Armed Ninja destroys magic cards, and he destroyed the one controlling you."  
  
"Thanks Duke," Yugi thought to himself. "I'll get you back too."  
  
"Monster in defense mode," Yami Bakura muttered through gritted teeth. "End of turn."  
  
"Now what?" Kaiba asked. "What happens if someone goes to the graveyard?"  
  
"Their souls are destroyed by the Reaper of the Cards," Yugi said, picking his own card.  
  
Bakura swallowed hard. How many souls were already gone?  
  
"Who is already in the grave?"  
  
Bakura sighed. Kaiba had asked the question for him.  
  
"3, Mai, Duke, and...Yami," Yugi said sadly.  
  
"I'm sorry, Yugi," Bakura said, sitting back down on his throne. "This is all my fault."  
  
"No it isn't!" Yugi said firmly. "Now, just help me out here."  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
"Okay," Yugi said, switching Bakura to defense mode for safety. "Kaiba, attack the defender!"  
  
Kaiba nodded and slashed his blade through the card. It was only Sangan, to everyone's immense relief.  
  
"Activate trap card, Michizuri!" Yami Bakura said happily. "You destroyed one of my monster, now I'll destroy one of yours!"  
  
At that moment, Tea flipped over.  
  
"What?" she cried, as light appeared all around her and she disappeared.  
  
"TEA!" Yugi cried.  
  
"Well, it looks as though I've destroyed a precious soul to you," Yami Bakura laughed.   
  
"You'll pay," Yugi mumbled through gritted teeth.  
  
Kaiba looked from the graveyard, to Yugi.  
  
"Yugi, use the Magician of Faith's effect!" he reminded him.  
  
"Right," Yugi muttered, fishing through his grave, when suddenly, one card caught his eye.  
  
Soul Release.  
  
"Soul Release?" he asked, taking it and adding it to his hand, due to the effect of the magician. "This could be just what I need to save all the souls!" 


	7. Chapter 7 Winning Souls

Chapter 7 - Winning Souls  
  
"Soul Release?" Bakura asked, thinking. "Oh I get it! If we take their souls OUT of the graveyard, then they'll be okay!"  
  
"Yes, but there's still a problem," Yugi said, looking in the graveyard. "This card only allows me to take 5 monsters out of the grave, and we already have Yami, Mai, Tea, and Duke. That's four right there!"  
  
"We've got to keep him on the field too," Kaiba said, pointing to Bakura. "If he goes to the graveyard, he'll go to his graveyard." He pointed at Yami Bakura.  
  
"I doubt he'd release his soul," Kaiba said grimly.  
  
Bakura looked sad.  
  
"He'd just tribute me on purpose!" he said angrily.  
  
"It's my turn," Yami Bakura said evilly, picking his card. "Defense mode, again."  
  
"He's scared," Kaiba said with a smile.  
  
"You shouldn't be talking," Yami Bakura snapped, leaning over to Kaiba. "You are no bigger than 8 inches, you should be scared."  
  
"I've got 2400 attack power," Kaiba replied, crossing his arms. "That's more than you'd be if you were on the field."  
  
"What did you say, mortal?!"  
  
"Anyway," Yugi said, picking his card to begin his turn. "Oh no!" he looked at the card.  
  
It was the Cyber Commander, Triston's favorite.   
  
"Why did I have to get so many of them at once?" Yugi whined to himself. "If he's got another card destruction, Soul Release will die, so I should set it on the field to be safe."  
  
He set the card behind Kaiba and Bakura.  
  
"Hurry up!" Yami Bakura snapped.  
  
"Um...and I play..." Yugi thought.  
  
5 souls only...  
  
"I..."  
  
Only 5.  
  
"I play this one," he said, slapping Triston down on the table.  
  
"Good, and I play this one," Yami Bakura said, flipping over his face down card. "Acid Trap Hole"  
  
"Oh no!" Yugi moaned.  
  
"It destroys any defense monster with a defense lower than 2000, meaning, another soul!"  
  
Triston went to the grave as well.  
  
"Oh my," Bakura cried, covering his mouth with his hands.  
  
"Do it now!" Kaiba demanded. "Play Soul Release."  
  
"But what if..." Yugi cried.  
  
"Don't mind us," Kaiba said, indicating Bakura and himself. "We'll be fine."  
  
"Okay..." Yugi said, unsure, flipping over the face-down card. "SOUL RELEASE!"  
  
"NO!" Yami Bakura snapped, looking at the card.  
  
Yugi's graveyard was filled with white light for a moment, and Yugi saw the Dark Magician Yami, the Magician of Faith Tea, the Cyber Commander Triston, the Armed Ninja Duke, and the Harpie Lady Mai leave the grave.  
  
"Good luck...Yugi..." Yami's voice called before his soul went back into the Millennium Puzzle.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Now I play..." Yugi called, slapping down a card. "Exchange!"  
  
Yami Bakura showed Yugi his hand, which consisted of Dark Necrofear, Share the Pain, and Sword of Dark Destruction.  
  
"Yuck," Yugi remarked, but took Share the Pain.  
  
"Don't scoff at my occult cards!" Yami Bakura snapped, accepting Yugi's only card, Remove Trap.  
  
"We can't lose anymore souls now," Yugi said, placing Share the Pain face-down for safety. "If we do...they'll be gone for good."  
  
Bakura swallowed and nodded. Kaiba turned to the defense card.  
  
"We need to end this as soon as possible," Bakura said. "Yugi, if you play Share the Pain, and offer me as a tribute, then we can get rid of the defense monster and wipe out his life points."  
  
"I'm not sacrificing you, Bakura," Yugi said firmly. "We'll save that until I get a monster without a soul stuck in it."  
  
"Kaiba attack!" Yugi cried, and Kaiba slashed through the defense monster with his blade.  
  
"Bakura, direct attack!" Yugi said, reducing Yami Bakura to only 950.  
  
"Grr," Yami Bakura growled, picking his next card.   
  
Then, he smiled an evil smile.  
  
"Go, Dark Necrofear!" he cried, throwing it down in attack mode, removing Sangan, and two other fiends from the graveyard.  
  
The horrible monster appeared, blue-skinned with white slits for eyes, and holding a broken baby-doll in its arms.  
  
"Eee," Bakura cried.  
  
"One card face-down," he added, putting it face down.  
  
"Oh no," Yugi cried, looking at his field.  
  
Kaiba was safe, as he had 2400 attack points, just higher than Necrofear's. But Bakura was weak and vulnerable to an attack! And if he was sent to the grave, he would go to Yami Bakura's graveyard...  
  
"Activate the face-down card Yugi," Kaiba demanded.  
  
"But..."  
  
"Do it, and sacrifice me," he said. "Then Bakura can wipe out the life points next turn."  
  
"No!" Both Yugi and Bakura cried.  
  
"There's no other choice!" Kaiba protested. "We don't know what that maniac will do once Bakura is in his grave."  
  
"Okay, but I promise I'll get you back," Yugi said, flipping over the card. "Share the Pain!"  
  
"Drat," Yami Bakura said, obviously not thinking Yugi would sacrifice his friends for the card.  
  
"I offer Lord of Dragons, and you must offer Dark Necrofear!"  
  
Two swords appeared on the field, one of which stabbed Necrofear, causing it to vanish, and the other stabbed the Lord of Dragons.  
  
The two monsters vanished from the field and their cards sent to the graveyard.  
  
"Poor Kaiba," Bakura said, rather guiltily.  
  
"It wasn't your fault," Yugi said sadly.  
  
"Hmmm," Yami Bakura said, thoughtfully. "You've sent Necrofear to the graveyard. I can play Dark Sanctuary now!"  
  
The horrible field appeared again, just as it had in the last game.  
  
"Yikes," Bakura cried, looking at the terrible white ghost flying around. "I hate this."  
  
"Well Yugi," Yami Bakura snapped, ending his turn. "Bakura can wipe out my life points this turn, but if he does, then Kaiba will never come back."  
  
Yugi sighed, and put his hand on his deck, preparing to draw his card.  
  
"I know what I need..." Yugi thought. "Heart of the cards, help me out here!"  
  
Yugi drew his card slowly, then put it to his face, and opened his eyes.  
  
"Oh no..." he thought looking at it.   
  
It was the sword of the deep-seated. The effect was to go to the top of the deck after it is used.  
  
Yugi looked through his hand, and then saw the winning play.  
  
"YES!" he cried, slapping it down on the field. "We've won, evil spirit!"  
  
"We have?" Bakura asked.  
  
"You haven't!" Yami Bakura protested. "The Resident Spirit has already parasited your only monster, Bakura and Kaiba is in the grave."  
  
"Not for long he isn't!" Yugi said. "Reborn the Monster!"  
  
Kaiba came back to the field, without the sword, of course.  
  
"What..." he asked, looking around. "All right, I'm back!"  
  
"So what?" Yami Bakura snapped. "I've got a trap here, that will wipe you out if you attack."  
  
"But, let's say that attack only works if Dark Sanctuary is out," Yugi said. "Like, Silent Evil Spirit."  
  
"Well," Yami Bakura shrugged. "You can't get rid of that."  
  
"Yes I can," Yugi said, flipping up a card to show him. "DE-SPELL!"  
  
Dark Sanctuary vanished.  
  
"What?!" Yami Bakura cried, looking at the field. "It had become normal again."  
  
"Now no matter WHO attacks, you're done!" Yugi cried. "Lord of Dragons, attack!"  
  
Kaiba slashed through the life points, reducing them to zero and then, they all vanished from the Shadow Realm.  
  
  
"Ohh..." Mai moaned, as she stood up.   
  
She had been sleeping on the cement near the boy's locker rooms.  
  
"What's going on?" Serenity asked, rubbing her eyes. "I kinda remember a dream about being inside a large box."  
  
"Me too," Tea said, standing up.  
  
The boys walked out of the locker rooms a moment later, Yugi with the Millennium Puzzle close to him.  
  
"We did it!" he said happily, and Kaiba merely nodded.  
  
"Did what?" Joey asked, rubbing his back.  
  
"Never mind," Yugi said, not wanting Joey to worry anyone. "Hey, where's Bakura?"  
  
"Here I am!" he called, running over to Yugi.  
  
"Hey...where's your...you know...?" Yugi asked, indicating the M. Ring.  
  
"Here's the strange thing: I can't find it," Bakura said softly.  
  
"Weird," Yugi said, looking at Bakura closely.   
  
Was he still possessed?  
  
"Come on everyone!" Tea called. "Let's go swimming!"  
  
"Yeah!" Yugi agreed, pushing his worries behind him.  
  
The gang ran over to the pool where the manager was standing, his hands on his hips angrily.  
  
"Mai!" he snapped. "Where have you been!? Adult swim ended 20 minutes ago!"  
  
"I...was..." Mai stammered.  
  
"You're fired!" he snapped. "Grow up some more before looking for a job here!"  
  
"No!" Mai cried.  
  
"Don't worry about it now Mai," Joey said playfully. "Let's swim!"  
  
"I don't want to," she said, sounding sad.  
  
"Yes, you do!" Joey said, giving her a little shove, causing her to fall into the pool.  
  
Everyone laughed as she swam up to the surface.  
  
"JOEY!" 


End file.
